Service Land Allotment

in the USSR, a plot of land granted for use to industrial workers or office employees who live far from inhabited areas because of the nature of their work. Recipients of service land allotments include certain categories of employees in transport, forestry, logging, communications, and the management of fish, game, and water resources. Plots are allocated by action of the administration of enterprises and organizations under the appropriate ministries and government agencies; the allotments are made from lands at the disposal of such organizations or enterprises. Where such lands are unavailable, plots are allocated from state land reserves or state forest lands by action of the executive committee of the appropriate raion soviet of people’s deputies.

The categories of workers entitled to service land allotments, the size of the plots, the terms of the grant, and the manner in which the allotments are to be used are regulated by legislation at the Union-republic level. In the RSFSR, for example, workers involved in the operation and maintenance of railroad lines and highways are granted up to 0.25 hectare of arable land (up to 0.15 hectare within a 50 km radius of Moscow and Leningrad, capitals of autonomous republics, and krai and oblast administrative centers) and up to 0.75 hectare of hayfield.

Service land allotments are normally granted for the duration of the employment that made such a grant possible. However, the allotments continue to be available after termination of employment to certain categories of persons, including workers receiving old-age or disability pensions. The allotments also continue to be available to the families of workers called up for regular military service or the family of workers taking leave to study; the plots remain at the disposal of the families for the full period of military service or study.